I was feeling good about myself by now.
Having smashed a number of Germans on their own soil, I decided that I was going to set my sights higher.
Much higher.
It was time for me to boldly go where none of us had gone before.
I was going to America.
To do this, I needed to pack heavily.
Since the journey was going to be very long, my packing efforts emphasized fuel and provisions more than ammunition.
I also knew this was going to be a risky move, considering that I was not the first one to have attacked America on its own turf.
The Atlantic Ocean was too heavily contested for me to attempt crossing, so I headed east, towards the Pacific Ocean instead.
I could have taken the Trans-Siberian Railway, but that would have been too risky because I didn't know who was monitoring it.
I did, however, travel not too far from it, gathering additional fuel from depots along the way.
Now, let me tell you about the crossing:
Before the war, we had actually constructed a bridge across the Bering Strait in conjunction with the Americans.
I don't know what the Americans called it, but we called it the "Soviet-American Friendship Bridge" in the Soviet Union.
However, the Americans would've seen me coming if I tried to cross that, plus, it might not even be strong enough to hold Goliath.
Instead, I headed over to Vladivostok to take a ferry.
You know, now that I think of it, something quite funny happened:
When I got near there, the land became quite peaceful, as if this war didn't exist.
So, for the last part of my journey across the Soviet Union, I loaded Goliath onto a flatbed car and took the Trans-Siberian Railway to save fuel.
Nevertheless, I could still hear cannon fire in the distance when I came to Vladivostok.
So, I got here without incident, but there was quite a commotion when I tried to commandeer the ferry.
Still, I got that done and continued on to America.
Just to be safe, I avoided any of the major ports and made a landing at an unoccupied beach.
If I was checking the map correctly, I had made landfall in a place called "Oregon", which I knew little about.
Despite my limited knowledge of American geography, I made a concerted effort to avoid any high-traffic roadways or major metropolitan centers.
However, that meant I had to take an arduous route through a mountain range known as "The Cascade Range".
Since I'd been through the Ural and Caucasus Mountains before, this wasn't especially difficult except for a few points.
Eventually, I crossed the border into California, and soon, I had to be extra-careful when the forests became thinner.
Soon, I came to a coastal town known as "Live Oaks", where I witnessed some American tanks conducting gunnery exercises.
Up to this point, unlike Europe, there appeared to be no major conflicts going on, so I guessed that what I thought was the apocalypse was probably just confined to one area of the globe.
Now, while I had the perfect element of surprise, they were too numerous for me to take on all by myself, so I took cover behind a few L-shaped buildings and scanned the group.
In their group, I saw a T1 Cunningham, a T40, some M24s, a couple of Easy Eights, an M10, an M36, a Hellcat, two Terrible 29s and a few unrecognized vehicles.
I definitely didn't want to be taking on these guys without adequate surprise, even though most of their vehicles weren't more advanced than Goliath.
Still, I took aim at an M24 and fired!
BOOM!
Target destroyed!
Rather than wait for the 152 to reload and get torn up in the process, I left the vicinity and headed for a nearby railroad bridge.
It was too risky to actually cross the bridge, so I crossed the stream that ran under the bridge, heading for a nearby bush.
As usual, I cranked the turret around and did my usual ritual of killing the engine, throwing on the camo net (leaving the gun uncovered, too) and trying to intercept their radio signals.
"…we'll cover the north. Able Leader out."
"Roger! Baker Leader out!"
"Charlie Leader out!"
A few moments later, I spotted a squad of four tanks heading in my direction, led by a Terrible 29.
They were just about to cross the bridge when…
"Baker Leader, this is Baker Three! There's something by the water, over!"
They all stopped to have a look.
I just sat there, hoping that they wouldn't notice.
"This Is Baker Two! I can't see anything there, over!"
"This is Baker Four! All clear on my scope, over!"
"Baker Leader to Baker Three, that's just a bunch of trees & bushes! Nothing to be worried about! All units, get moving, out!
Having not seen me, they proceeded to cross the bridge, which was a fatal mistake on their part.
I aimed the howitzer at a brick column that was holding up the bridge, and…
BOOM!
"Able Leader, this is Baker Leader…"
The bridge collapsed, putting all four tanks of Baker Squad out of action!
"Baker Leader, this is Able Leader! What's going on!? Over!"
"Come in, Baker Leader! All Baker, come in, over!"
"Baker!"
"This is Able Leader to Charlie Squad! Baker Squad has gone silent! Carry out an investigation in Sector K5! Able Leader out"
"This is Charlie Leader, we're heading there now! Charlie Leader out!"
By this time, I had re-started my engine, so I took off the camo net and hid back behind the L-shaped buildings.
Eventually, I heard another message: "This is Charlie Four! Sir, something took out the bridge! Baker Squad's been…"
BOOM!
I blew up the M24 that was once designated "Charlie Four"
However, not too long after he got there, the T1 Cunningham swooped in.
It was no trouble; all I had to do was run over it with Goliath.
I made as quick a retreat as I could into some bushes while I listened for further transmissions from Charlie Squad.
Eventually, I got the following exchange:
"Able Leader, this is Charlie Leader! Charlie Four & Five are dead! We still can't see anything!"
"Roger that! I'll give the order, then! Able Leader out!"
For the next few seconds, I heard nothing else from Able Leader, so I tried switching my radio frequency around, until…
"…evacuate the town, over!"
A few seconds later, I heard sirens going off, so that must've meant that the local authorities were evacuating the town, which was good for me because I didn't want innocent people getting in my way while I was fighting these guys.
After that message, I got this one:
"This is Staff Sergeant Caruthers of the 41st Armored Company calling Redding Army Air Force Base! We're under attack by enemy forces! Send reinforcements, I say again, send reinforcements, out!"
"This is Colonel Sanders of Redding Army Air Force Base! Reinforcements are on the way, out!"
Uh-oh, they're on to me!
I didn't know how much time I'd have left before reinforcements arrived, so I had to eliminate the others as quickly as possible, but without being too hasty.
Soon, the remnants of Charlie Squad showed up, consisting of an "Easy Eight" Sherman, an M36 "Jackson" and a Terrible 29.
I waited a few seconds, and then I targeted the M36 and blew it up.
Shortly afterwards, I learned I'd been spotted:
"Charlie Three to Charlie Leader, I think I found him! He got Charlie Two! I'm firing at him now, over!"
"Roger that! Charlie Leader moving to attack position, out!"
Charlie Three, the "Easy Eight", got a first shot, but bounced off Goliath's gun mantlet.
I retaliated by throwing an anti-tank grenade at him.
BOOM!
Charlie Leader then responded:
"Able Leader, this is Charlie Leader! My entire squad's dead, but I've found the bastard who did it! I don't know what it is, but it's huge! It may be Russian! Whoever he is, I'm attacking him now, but I may need some backup!
Charlie Leader damaged Goliath, but I struck back with another anti-tank grenade, which only damaged the Terrible 29.
It seemed to be enough to put it out of action, though, because I saw the crew members (the live ones, anyways) bailing out.
Just for the heck of it, when Goliath's 152mm howitzer was reloaded, I finished off the Terrible 29 after the crew had cleared the vehicle.
Now, it was just me and Able Squad.
However, I couldn't stay down here any longer or I'd be crushed, so I moved north, towards the town.
I crossed the field where they'd been holding their gunnery exercises, but it was risky, so I went west and made use of whatever little foliage was available to me.
It wasn't entirely easy, because partway through the field, someone was taking potshots at me:
"This is Able Three, I see him! He's at Sector F1! Attacking now, over!"
I couldn't see Able Three, so I just pushed Goliath's engine as hard as it would go.
This guy landed quite a few shots, but I made it into town, but not before someone else caught up to me:
"This is Able Two, he's entering the town! We got him now, over!"
"Roger that! Able Leader to all forces: ATTACK! Able Leader out!"
Sure, under ordinary circumstances, I would've been surrounded, but as you know, I brought a few "tricks of the trade" with me.
First of all, I needed a place to hide Goliath in this town.
After a few seconds of searching, I found a garage.
Unfortunately, it was locked, so I blew the lock open with a burst from my PPSh-41.
Since the garage was empty, I simply drove Goliath in.
However, the roof of the turret scraped against the top of the door, but nothing on Goliath was damaged except the paint.
Besides, I figured the 41st wouldn't notice.
Once Goliath was inside, I shut the garage door and began planting mines in the streets.
However, I heard some tanks approaching, so I ducked into a nearby bush.
Sure enough, a couple of them fell for the trap!
Despite this, that was all it took for them to fall back and leave the town.
When they left, I waited for them to come back, but after an hour, they still refused to come back.
At this point, I figured that they were just waiting to ambush me the moment I left town.
Didn't matter to me; after all, they couldn't have a lot of tanks left.
I picked up any mines that I came across, headed back for Goliath and started it back up.
By now, their leader was transmitting messages of this sort:
"All right, you Russki bastard, we have you surrounded! There's no escape for you! Come out of there with your hands up! If you bring that tank of yours, we'll destroy you!"
HA! I was not going to surrender that easily!
Instead, I smashed through the garage door and headed to the eastern part of town, figuring it was less open.
As soon as I went that way, though, I was fired upon by a strange tank that I hadn't seen before.
It hit Goliath pretty badly, but Goliath hit it even worse, destroying it.
I kept heading east, but then I spotted another M24 coming at me on my right.
It attempted to circle me, but my gun had finished reloading, so after it circled and fired a couple of shots, I brought the hull and turret to bear, and…
BOOM!
Criticism is gold. Negativity and nitpicking are pyrite.